Ben Hardy: who is Love at First Sight star, does he have a girlfriend, what movies has he been in?

British actor Ben Hardy stars in new Netflix romantic drama Love at First Sight, which landed on the streaming platform today (Friday 15 September). 

Hardy stars alongside Haley Lu Richardson, Rob Delaney, Jameela Jamil, Dexter Fletcher, and Sally Phillips in the 90 minute film.

Love at First Sight is essentially Before Sunrise on a plane - Hardy plays Oliver Jones, who falls in love with Hadley Sullivan (Richardson) when they are seated next to each other on a flight from New York to London.

After they lose each other in the arrivals lounge, before they have had a chance to exchange details, both are certain that they will never see each other again - but it wouldn’t be much of a romantic drama if that were the case.  

Hardy’s latest film role has raised his profile, and made him into a leading man. This is everything you need to know about the soap star turned film star:

Who is Ben Hardy?

Ben Hardy is a 32 year old English actor from Bournemouth best known for his roles in EastEnders and new Netflix romantic drama Love at First Sight.

Hardy began his career on the stage, performing in The Judas Kiss on the West End. Over his career to date he has appeared in five TV shows and nine films, and has been nominated for a Kids’ Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

What else has Ben Hardy been in?

Hardy’s breakout role was as Peter Beale, the son of Ian and Cindy in BBC soap EastEnders. He was the sixth actor to play the character and appeared in more than 180 episodes before leaving the show in 2015.

Since then he has had small parts in several major films including his feature film debut X-Men: Apocalypse, historical drama Mary Shelley, and Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. He has also starred in miniseries The Woman in White, adapted from the classic Wilkie Collins gothic novel, and HBO romantic drama series The Girl Before.

His upcoming projects include action film Recovery which follows three people travelling in a pickup truck that is transporting a terrorist payload, and sci-fi thriller Apteros about a crew of astronauts en route to Mars. Both projects are currently in pre-production.

Does Ben Hardy have a girlfriend?

Hardy was previously in a relationship with fellow EastEnders star Jessica Plummer - the 30 year old actress played Chantelle Atkins on the soap from 2019-2020 after Hardy had already left the show.

The pair met on the set of The Girl Before and were reportedly dating for 18 months. However, they split up this year as they grew apart due to their busy schedules. 

Currently, Hardy is not believed to be dating anyone, and has certainly not gone public with any new romances since his split from Plummer.

Is Ben Hardy related to Tom Hardy?

No, despite speculation that the two British actors could be related, they do not share any family. In fact, they don’t even really share a name - Ben’s birth name was Ben Jones before he changed it to Hardy later in life.